194 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



'The greatest care should be taken at cheese factories and creameries that the 

 "waste water does not find its way into the water supply, and to insure this thorough 

 .^nd efficient drainage is necessary. 



* Further, there is much room for improvement in keeping the buildings and barn- 

 ^rards clean. If greater care had been exercised in this matter, many wells which are 

 reeking with filth would to-day be free from impurity. Apart from the question that a 

 ■dirty barn-yard means a loss of valuable plant food — a question well worthy of closer 

 consideration — there remains the equally important fact that such is usually a menace 

 to health through contamination of the well water,' 



We are pleased to note that driven and bored wells, supplied with windmill power 

 are becoming more and more common. Such wells may be situated at a considerable 

 •distance from the farm buildings, and thus obtain their water from a source about 

 •which there can be no reasonable doubt as to purity. 



Several of the samples received from the North-west Territories and Manitoba 

 •were found to be strongly saline, and for this reason non-potable. The chief con- 

 stituents of this soluble mineral matter are common salt (sodium chloride), Glauber's 

 salt (sodium sulphate), and Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate). A part of the 

 latter might be precipitated by the judicious addition of lime water, but such a plan 

 •of purification is only effective when other salts — sulphate and chloride of sodium are 

 absent. In the majority of instances, distillation must be resorted to if a wholesome, 

 potable water is to be obtained. Small household stills, cheap and easy of manage- 

 ment, and which can be used on the kitchen stove, are now procurable, and are to be 

 strongly recommended to farmers in alkali districts for furnishing a supply of good 

 drinking water, free from saline matter. 



